


As Sure As Snow Falls

by seekingjets



Series: Bad Business [3]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Bad Business au, Humanformers, M/M, Not Beta Read, Trauma, caretaker Megatron, earth-cybertron, he's not great at it but he tries, past trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 15:02:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17624624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seekingjets/pseuds/seekingjets
Summary: Starscream has a date.Megatron waits for the inevitable call.---aka: there is a reason Megatron pays attention to the weather and why snow is on his list of things to be weary of.





	As Sure As Snow Falls

**Author's Note:**

> Fits in to my humanformers series I have been wanting to write for awhile. 
> 
> Set before Sugar Coating.
> 
> While it is not extensively tagged, please note the following fiction heavily implies a triggered reaction to past traumatic events as well as hints of BDD in the lightest degree.

\--

Megatron catches Starscream just as he’s cleaning up the edges of his lip tint. A subtle color meant to enhance the shape of a curveless mouth, paired well with the softest brush of red beneath ink dipped lashes. The younger man doesn’t notice him at first, far too obsessed with the reflection in hand. Ensuring all drawn lines are straight, that delicate chains of gold rest evenly and picturesque down the powdered throat.

Fussy, elegant thing that Starscream is.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Megatron asks and that startles the seeker. Earning him the thin lipped snarl and look of apprehension masked behind irritation. The compact clicks shut as violent as any curse leaving Starscream to stand before him unprotected in all his tweaked glory.

“That’s really none of your business.” Defensive already, Megatron is intrigued. Crossing the threshold of Starscream’s office which in itself is a wonderful stage that tells nothing of the man more than what he wishes to put on display. Velvet couch and glass tables. Gold trim frames of cityscape prints. The odd silver welding of an abstract plane to match the endless volumes of untouched books: leather bound and dusted frequently by hired staff. Starscream’s corporate office was a perfect setting of glossy black and harsh red highlights to contrast the unorganized hell of the man’s sub-basement workshop. The true Starscream spilled over workbenches and scorched metal parts. Schematics crumpled and coffee stained, missing documents stuffed under table legs and stacked coats where the man would sleep on occasion.

Starscream, prim and pretty framed by the illusion of the office, told anyone all they ever really needed to know of the man.

“Shockwave still has need of you in the labs. Your shift is until eight tonight.”

“Well it’s good to know no one can read a schedule in this place.” Starscream puffs his chest with a childish indignation, returning to the mild mess of makeup products and metal comb laid neatly across the polished desk. Earlier today he was wearing his expensive suit, wrinkled beneath the lab coat as Megatron had to once again mediate a disagreement between engineers and Starscream’s demands.

Now he wore black silk and heinously thin jeans that perfectly traced the length of long legs. Hair shiny black and perfectly styled where no disturbance could unfurl a single straightened curl. Heeled boots the same garish red as the leather jacket. Clearly meant only for fashion and not a thought for warmth as it hangs open and free with silver teeth and buckles down the compact torso. The dead of winter and Starscream looked ready for a spring concert.

“I took the time off weeks ago, even had Soundwave approve it.” Starscream continues, offering no proof past dropping Soundwave’s name. “You can chase them down to verify, I don’t have the time.”

“You? Took off time?” Megatron almost laughs. Not that Starscream leaving was absurd, merely the idea the man bothered going through the proper channels to do so. He’d grown used to Starscream simply walking out without excuse and having to track him down, wasting everyone’s time. “Miracles do happen.”

“Ha.” Flat response and with vigor does Starscream spray himself with a sweetly scented cologne - being sure to cloud the space around Megatron’s lingering form as if an attack on his person. Looking quite pleased with himself as Megatron clears his throat and tries not to choke. “Besides, aren’t you scheduled for a meeting for another two hours?” At this he frowns to Starscream’s smug grin, watching tanned, elegant hands shuffle through a bag to put away the products - a gold bracelet chiming on his wrist which Megatron recognizes rather well.

Considering he purchased it for Starscream last Winter: layered gold with a faceted diamond glittering at the man’s pulse. Last seeing the bracelet few months back at a summer fundraising event where they put on their best smiles and veils of altruistic intent. An evening playing nice with the local government Megatron kept on his payroll before Starscream knelt in his Versace suit and blew him in the elevator. It had been an eventful night and the sight of the bangle only reminded Megatron of the way it caught the hallway light as Starscream fought not to laugh. Completely unhelpful as Megatron handed a wad of cash to a traumatized bellboy that had been on the other side of those elevator doors.

He’s caught staring, Starscream’s pale stare just as fake as the office’s decor. Purchased contacts to make him look the way he thinks he should look. To stand out from his dark skin and glossy hair, as if his red-brown eyes weren’t stunning enough.

“You have a date?” Megatron guesses and watches the uneasy swallow work it’s way down the long throat. Left to wonder if he should find this amusing or have any thought at all? “It’s rather early for you, don’t you think?” Checks his watch, scarcely past five where he’s known Starscream to run about with his fascination of the week well after midnight. (Only because he at times gets the bills when Starscream tries to use his company card to pay for the suite and room service).

“You make it sound like I’m off to prom.” Starscream doesn’t relax but it’s understood in a moment that neither will be addressing the elephant in the room. “I don’t expect it to go for long. It’s more a pity date than anything. Sap kept asking - I had a free night. So why not?”

They are nothing more than a HR nightmare waiting to happen. They are not _an item_ nor share any idealistic beliefs they are beholden to one another. They are free to do what, and who, they so please and Megatron cannot justify the tension in his jaw.

“I suppose it’s a good thing really, we do have a six am conference call scheduled.”

“Oh, I will absolutely be late for that.”

Megatron frowns and Starscream flutters black lashes innocently, openly challenging Megatron’s patience as if this were a simple conversation. As if Megatron hadn’t steered himself across the corporate campus the second he heard Starscream was trying to leave early - and wondered if the seeker would like company.

“He’s not someone we’re _involved_ with, is it?” Megatron has flashbacks of the trouble Starscream has caused him. His behavior with clients and partners, the flirtatious smiles across business dinners and eventual tantrums of CEOs when Starscream was bored of them. Hounding calls of heartbroken engineers and designers who only kept Starscream’s attention until he secured the copyrights to their work.

It wasn’t that Starscream slept with business associates to get what he wanted - he just had a terrible habit of getting what he wanted AND sleeping with them. Megatron wondered where that put him in the mix?

“You worry too much.” Starscream shifts back to his careless self, perfectly structured to seem that way at least. Hips sharp and limbs loose - red mouth damp with product and the glint of teeth when he speaks. “Besides, the last one dropped the lawsuit.”

“He dropped the lawsuit because we paid him to drop the lawsuit.”

“See? Worked out.”

“Starscream…” A warning was cut short by the quiet hum of a sleek phone which doesn’t fit in the pocket of the jeans. Quickly ignored as Starscream answers the call, lowered gaze trailing along Megatron’s now awkward posture. Standing there like some fool as his subordinate’s voice changed into someone almost pleasant sounding.

“You’re here? I’ll be right down.” He laughs gentle and light without actually smiling. It’s unnerving to say the least how charming he can sound while looking so bored. “Just tell them you’re picking up, it won’t be more than a minute.” Taps the screen to end the call, no terms of endearment for his date or plastic attempts to woo him further thank god. Megatron doubts he could stomach it. He was spared that treatment when Starscream and he began...their absolutely terrible decision to sleep with one another. Sparse as it may be it felt more honest to just drink too much and fall into the same car home rather than play doting and affectionate when they did not feel that way for one another.

Starscream is looking at him again, perhaps for permission to leave though Megatron doubts it. Starscream has never asked for permission before, why start now?

“It’s cold out.” Megatron nods to the fashionable jacket because he isn’t sure what else to say. Taking in the open length of Starscream’s shirt like the man was inviting the frigid air in. Catching sight of the scar just beneath the left side collarbone that turned pale and gray in the cold. “That will hardly be enough.”

“We aren’t going hiking.” Starscream laughs. “But thanks, _dad_.” He mocks, and if his skin weren’t so painted and powdered to make him appear carved and smooth - Megatron might imagine the flush beneath peeking through. “Is that all? Not that I care about keeping him waiting but---”

“Conference call. Six am.” Reminds, stern as he only need shift a shoulder to give Starscream the room to leave. Heels clicking until they reach the carpeted corridors and he doesn’t hesitate to leave Megatron’s sight - not even a polite glance back or a goodbye.

Megatron is hardly surprised.

\---

An hour later Megatron has his right wrist gripped behind his back, staring out the tinted windows of the “observation” room. A meeting hall on the corner of the building where windows stretched the length of the walls giving a spectacular view of the city. Iacon pale and salted for winter, thick clouds above suffocating the evening sunset and allowing the dark to settle quick and daunting over the cityscape.

Behind him Soundwave continues to work without his assistance, really their standard method. The rhythmic typing and sweeping chimes of files shifted and sent to various outreaches of their organization, both above as below the view of the rest of the world. Multiple screens and tablets intertwined with Soundwave’s vast knowledge of technology where Megatron can only stare and trust that what he commands is done at the ring of a digital bell.

They have work to do. They always have work to do but his thoughts are elsewhere, scattered yet finely tuned to a singular subject. Fractured across a bothered mind that can’t seem to ground itself while so busy. It’s obvious in his posture, his flickering attention from Soundwave’s commentary to the muddled world outside where clouds seem to swell ready to burst in a storm.

“Soundwave.” There’s an immediate pause in the typing behind him. He imagines Soundwave looking up from their work, a glazed look over focused eyes. “Are we expecting bad weather tonight?”

Three clicks and the wall display screen comes to life, muted local and regional news stations making their appearance. Each presenting the sudden percentage of snow and freezing rain overnight rising by the second. Banners warning of dangerous roads by early morning and caution against temperatures dropping with startling severity. Soundlessly the reporters make jokes, smile with casual gestures while repeating their warnings. Shaking fingers as if in lecture to the viewers to take their information seriously.

“That idiot.” Megatron sighs, shuffling through his pocket and bringing his personal phone out. The screen is empty of new notifications. No calls, no texts. Just the apps waiting use and the unchanged background from when the phone was first activated.

What was he expecting? Starscream was on a date, forcing himself to cozy up with some poor soul who didn’t know the devil when he saw him. There was no reason to think for a second that Starscream would have reason to contact him, already taken care of for the night by whatever idiot he snared today. Worst comes to worst Starscream’s brothers knew of his issues. They would come get him if he called. They would complain and bitch and yell...but would always come get him.

There was no reason to expect a call as if he were needed by the spoiled man.

Megatron turns the volume up on the ringer and watches as the first trailing freckles of snow begin to drift from the sky.

\---

Two hours later Megatron keeps turning on his phone to see if he’s somehow missed a call. Perhaps the ringer died and didn’t play, or the reception was poor despite amplifiers put around the building (even though Soundwave looks offended by the thought). He sends Reflector to check and see if Starscream’s phone was accidentally left on the office desk - despite Megatron watching the seeker struggle to put it back in his jeans pocket before leaving. No chance it was forgotten.

Pride stops him from calling personally, but Soundwave places a short call - an automated reminder of their morning meeting and it goes through. No one answers but the line is clear. There would be no problem receiving a call from him...SHOULD Starscream think to call.

“Distracted.” Soundwave comments as casually as stating that water is wet or that the city is now an ugly speckled wonderland of falling snow. Not too thick so early, but it will get worse. Only now has it begun to take shape across the distant city streets below. Building tops white with collection as the sun is gone and the dark makes the spilling storm look all the more monstrous.

Megatron does not mind snow. Where he’s from snow and ash melded together above churning factories. Smoke and ice were commonplace and nothing to fear if you knew what you were doing. It never was a weather pattern he thought to care about - simply a season to tolerate the bitter cold - until he met Starscream.

“No.” Lies and Soundwave lets him. Only shifting their long braid over one shoulder and typing slower - still waiting on Megatron’s approval over the table covered with documents and digital signatures requiring attention.

“Cabs still run in bad weather.” Soundwave reminds and if only it were that simple.

Their first night together was because it had begun to snow. Because he caught Starscream staring out from the lobby windows like a child waiting a monster to emerge from the closet doors. Because Starscream lied about losing his car keys and that the replacement wouldn’t be around until morning - so Megatron offered to drive him home. He could have called a cab then, or ordered a company car but he didn’t. Megatron very much believes Starscream would have slept in his office rather than venturing out on the winter streets.

Starscream has his date to drive him home. Megatron should stop worrying.

“Where’s the report on Caminus?” He asks and Soundwave points to the folder beneath his hand, watching him with a lackluster stare. “We have work to do.” He tells Soundwave, and wonders if he himself will listen.

\---

Twenty minutes later the snow has not stopped and Megatron’s phone rings.

He almost knocks it off the table answering it as Starscream’s number flares across the screen. No photo id, no contact name despite Starscream’s countless attempts to enter one. _”How will you know who’s calling you?”_   He argued to Megatron’s assurance that unlike young fools, he can memorize numbers just fine.

“I told you that coat wasn’t enough.” Megatron boasts, because it’s the only way to withhold the tension in his voice as outside the snow continues to fall.

“Excuse me?” A foreign voice answers and Megatron’s gut goes tight.

“Who am I speaking to?” Megatron asks to which Soundwave’s interest is abruptly peaked, watching him from over a laptop screen.

“Hi, sorry, my name is Wheeljack. I uh -- I was instructed to call this number.” A pause from the other end, someone speaking muffled by movement. “I’m trying to get ahold of someone for Starscream.”

“And where is Starscream?” Megatron does not offer his name or any further information. Only snaps at Soundwave to track the call to its location - a standard feature on all his employees devices whether they knew it or not.

“He got sick.” Wheeljack’s voice holds genuine concern and Megatron was already putting on his coat while balancing his phone between his shoulder and ear. “Well, he got upset and started drinking...and now he won’t let me take him home and I tried calling a cab…”

“He doesn’t like cabs.”

“So he’s said.” The stranger comments with an ounce of chagrin - commonplace when dealing with an upset Starscream. Megatron would be amused at the man’s misfortune and ruined date but he was busy reaching his office doors. Pulling a set of keys from a cabinet and moving towards the elevator. “I’m sorry he told me to call this number but the name is just…”

“Under some form of insult I’m sure.” Megatron cuts him off, counting the floors as any other waiting employees shuffle off quickly to give him space. He must look something fierce scowling at the slow moving elevator. “Tell him I’m on my way and see if you can pry whatever liquor he’s chugging out of his hands. I won’t have him making a mess of my car.”

“But who are---” Megatron hangs up before stepping onto the elevator, done with conversing with Starscream’s date.

Thanks to Soundwave the address for the stained wood and copper restaurant Starscream is causing havoc at is waiting in his GPS - safest route highlighted with any potential driving hazards on the digital map. It’s not far and the company SUV he takes is safe enough that the drive is hardly rough. Heavy tires and all wheel drive, the same model as (speaking of HR nightmares) Shockwave requested when it became his responsibility to pick Soundwave’s children up from school on occasion. Which spoke volumes that Soundwave accepted the model as safe enough for the twins.

The restaurant isn’t too far and he parks out front, making eye contact with the valet who seems completely fine not to have to step from the warmth of her box as Megatron leaves the engine running.

He steps inside, snow managing to dust the shoulders of his hair and wool coat, but otherwise only leaves the smallest remnants where he steps. Gazing across stained wood floors cradling small scattered tables of patrons likely lingering to wait out the storm. The hostess points him to the bar at the smallest question and he knows that’s where he’ll find Starscream before even spotting the lump of black silk and hearing the clank of silver rings clutching glass.

The bar is a half circle of shined purple wood beneath a canopy of gold lights like falling stars. Warm music plays gentle and low from hidden speakers and the fresh scent of crushed mint and bourbon is almost as powerful as the flood of Starscream’s cologne still clinging to the slouched form.

“C’mon try and drink this.” A man, wide but handsome enough, hovers over Starscream’s skinny shoulder, trying to nudge water into his grasp and rejected by a long groan and a slurred curse. He looks more concerned than annoyed and Megatron supposes that’s new for Starscream’s dates. Usually they leave yelling or threatening to sue.

“Starscream, get up.” His voice surprises the date, Wheeljack, who abandons his attempts and addresses Megatron in full. Eyes round when he takes in his snow speckled form.

“Oh.” Wheeljack says. “Oh.”

Starscream moves, looking up from the crook of his arm. Skin flushed dark and mascara beginning to collect in the corners of his eyes. He’s frowning but his fake-blue eyes look glassy and tired as alcohol swims through his head making it difficult to focus. He acknowledges Megatron at least, lifting his chin higher and the subtle tint from before is replaced with a swollen lip from obsessive chewing, anxious wear of soft skin under angry teeth.

“It’s snowing.” Came the pitiful voice.

“It does that sometimes.” Lowers his volume, trying to meet the other’s gaze. “It’s only going to get worse. We're leaving.”

"Why?" Starscream whines, too drunk when he speaks but his body responds to the order. Swaying when he stands and Wheeljack goes to assist only to be swatted away with a growl. His date looks surprised, glancing between the two as Starscream is stumbling into Megatron’s shadow, and seems to find something acceptable. Retreating a step to allow Megatron to handle things from there.

“Because you’re going to embarrass yourself, but more importantly: me.” The coat reaches Starscream’s ankles when Megatron swings it around thin shoulders - no care for the red jacket lost somewhere at the bar and empty glasses of various liquors. Wheeljack can keep it for all he cares, too focused now on Starscream’s shivering form and how easily the seeker falls into his side.

“I don’t care about that.” Sneers at the floor, forgetting to struggle against indignity and his date entirely. “You took forever to get here.” Bitches as he walks, hands squeezing the lapels of Megatron’s coat.

“Stop complaining.” Megatron at least still has some manners, giving Wheeljack an acceptable nod. Wordlessly accepting responsibility and thanking him, choosing to look past how much he wants to push Starscream’s date off a building for letting things get this far. “We’re not far from your home.” Starscream lets out a spoiled scoff but leans into him, almost tripping on his own clicking heels as they move towards glancing patrons and curious stares of staff.

They reach the doors, glassy and lit to the world outside and Megatron feels Starscream’s entire body tense. Weight drops, trying to stop as wide eyes seem to remember the sight of it and almost tries to back up.

“No.” Megatron’s arm is an unbreakable grip behind Starscream’s back, keeping him upright and still while just past the doors is his truck. Waiting and warm - but Starscream only saw the flurries coming down and collecting on white sidewalks and slushy streets.

“Can I stay here?”

“You can’t sleep in a restaurant.”

“I bet I can.” He sounds small, throat choked up in fear as Megatron gives another gentle nudge towards the door only to fold Starscream closer to himself. His hand large enough to cradle the back of a gel stiff skull and ease Starscream’s cheek to rest against his chest.

“I’m taking you home. This isn’t a negotiation.” The man’s body is rigid beneath his touch, breath speeding with the beginning of panic mixing with alcohol already shifting his moods. Megatron exhales a long sigh, pulling the collar of his coat collar higher over Starscream’s exposed throat best he can. “Just get to the car. I’ll take care of the rest.”

Starscream answers with a small nod only felt through Megatron’s jacket and lets himself be lead through glass doors and into the chill winds.

It’s only a few steps to the car and Starscream almost jumps into the passenger seat before Megatron fully opens the door. Sitting there and watching Megatron step around to the driver’s side with an owlish expression. Limbs buried in the coat too large for him but somehow not large enough to protect him. This time Megatron has more snow damp on his shoulders and hair, sticking to his face, but he ignores that for now. Reaching across and buckling Starscream’s huddled form.

“I can do that.” The seeker snaps.

“But you didn’t.” Megatron snaps back and he knows the anger is only a distraction from what looks like terror fighting for dominance over Starscream’s features. It only gets worse when Megatron settles back to his seat, seat belt fastened, and the first shift of the vehicle out of park has Starscream’ letting out a low gasp and digging the soles of boots into the floorboard. “It’s ok.” He tries to reassure him, uncertain if he's doing it right.

“Shut up.” Starscream barely manages to croak from a swollen throat, already looking around wildly for dangers. “Don’t look at me, just drive.”

They pull out and onto the street, the crunch of snow beneath tires parting effortlessly against the weight. A car passes too fast - sprays slush as it goes and Megatron can hear Starscream cracking his knuckles beneath the coat. Obsessive and constant until it’s just the soft crunch of cartilage and no more. He tries not to look too often at his passenger, knowing if caught Starscream will assume something is wrong, but it’s difficult to ignore. Starscream who flies jets with reckless abandon, who stands in the belly of engines and oogles modern weaponry with the delight of a widower purchasing new diamonds - the same man now huddled into himself. Flinching at every slow turn or passing car, gaping with quickened breath at the snowfall that has never been a threat to Megatron.

They reach a light just as it turns red, Megatron already easing on the brakes and the wheels take a moment to respond over an ice patch. That’s all it takes for Starscream to fly into a panic, slapping the dashboard and yelling.

“StopStop!” Legs lifting from the floorboard and curling up as the vehicle comes to a stop just above the white line - no harm or danger. Hardly anything to worry over. “Fuck! What are you doing?!”

“Starscream.”

“You can’t brake that fast! You don’t have the traction for---” There’s snow still melting in Starscream’s hair and he looks absolutely petrified.

“Starscream.” Megatron grabs the man’s wrist, tugging it away from the dashboard and across the center console until it can reach his torso. The seeker is left folded over the space but Megatron still has the red and more than enough time to press the cold hand over his shirt, tie catching on the other’s gold bangle bracelet. “Calm down." Megatron's heartbeat is steady and soft beneath where he pins Starscream’s palm. Watching the other struggle to focus on it, on anything at all, before he frowns. A wrinkled face upset by absolutely _everything_ before exhaustion and dizziness seems to catch up to the adrenaline spike.

“I need you to trust me.” He asks while Starscream squirms in the seat, looking both hurt and challenged as the light turns green before them. Megatron doesn’t release the brake just yet, waiting for the man to relax if just minutely in the shoulders. Letting the hand slip from his grasp and fall to Megatron’s right thigh.

“I do.” He sounds miserable, trying to reposition himself in the passenger seat so he is secure but can still reach Megatron’s thigh. Manicured nails digging into the muscle beneath slacks - unpleasant - but Megatron will take that over shrieking panic of before. Giving the man a moment until he seems ready to carry on their drive home.

 

Starscream doesn’t yell, but he still flinches and gives a harsh cringe every turn or brake he's not prepared for. When the vehicle rocks in the slightest over built-up snow on uneven pavement he digs his nails into Megatron’s leg and breathes harder until he has to close his eyes. Then immediately opens them out of fear he might miss something and turns to Megatron for assurance that everything is fine.

It’s annoying, but not distracting, and Megatron can’t be upset. He knows why the slightest skate of wheels on frozen ground makes Starscream forget how to breathe - forgoing all care of his dignity to simply be what he is: A man afraid. So he allows Starscream to be just that, without judgement or taking it personal when he spies the other tensing up. Stomping his foot when he thinks they should brake. Or even biting his lip so hard he fears he'll be bleeding before they reach their destination.

It takes longer than he wanted to reach Starscream’s building, pulling into the underground garage protected from the weather and taking the guest parking space. Starscream has gone still, slouched over after retrieving his hand from Megatron’s leg and seems exhausted so Megatron doesn’t make him move. Steps out and around to retrieve him, holding his shoulder as they move and letting Starscream use him as little more than a walking stick until the elevator where he retreats to the farthest wall of the cramped space. Taking them up to the suite floor and Megatron follows silently as Starscream punches in codes and steps into the safety of his home.

He drops Megatron’s coat to the floor and rushes into the bathroom, water blasts heavily from the sink and either he’s scrubbing his face of dried snow or he’s getting sick from too many drinks - Megatron doesn’t know. He should leave, Starscream is fine and is never pleasant once the thought to be embarrassed for his behavior comes back around, but he lingers. Telling himself "just a minute more". Moving to the living room with all it’s modern lines and uncomfortable furniture to locate the remote that controls everything in the suite. Automated blinds lowering with the soft purr of unseen machinery so that when Starscream emerges he won’t have to see the outside world.

Starscream, who is taking his sweet time in the bathroom, to the point even Megatron is ready to forgo his chivalrous intentions after 20 minutes.

“I’m leaving.” Calls down the hall of gray and dim lighting - unsure if Starscream can even hear him over the water still on high. It was already nine, and while not the latest, Megatron’s home is across town. He’d like to make it there before the worst of the weather came rolling in. “Our conference call is at six! Call your brothers to get you!” He goes to retrieve his coat only for the water to stop running - Starscream nearly losing his footing (now bare) on the hardwood floors.

“You’re going?” He asks and Megatron sees why it took so long. His skin scrubbed to the point of red streaks marking across his elegant features. Down his throat and chest as he can see past the loosely hanging robe the man changed into. Hairline damp and beginning to curl from Starscream clawing off makeup and the humiliation of his behavior before rushing out there. Not even bothering to tie the satin robe correctly. “But it’s--” He looks towards the now closed windows but not being able to see the weather doesn’t change his swaying fear.

“It will be worse in a few hours. I need to get home.” Megatron is not afraid of the snow like Starscream is. He doesn't flinch or whine or cry when ice builds on the roads, doesn’t need to close his eyes to hide from it only to be taken back to a terrible memory. He’s not afraid of much, Starscream pretends not to be.

“It’s already worse!” Starscream scrubbed too hard on his throat and red welts are forming, probably matching the sharp pain across Megatron’s thigh where the seeker clung in their drive. Starscream would be furious at himself in the morning for it, would wear some sleek turtleneck and comment on fashion all day so no one would think about it. (not that anyone would) Starscream’s contacts were gone and all Megatron was left with was a pleading face, swollen and red, with round warm eyes cutting through him without ever really needing to try.

"Just stay here tonight." Starscream looking afraid. For him. Worried. For him. Devastating. That’s what Starscream is. In all the wicked and fragile ways Megatron could imagine and he loses the argument before Starscream reaches for his hand. 

\---

There is a folder on Starscream that exists only digitally somewhere in Soundwave’s endless storage. Created before Megatron hired him, before he ever spoke to the young man who was making his name known at the forefront of a dying company bearing his father’s name. A plane burning as it came barreling down to earth and its pilot ignoring the fire.

It contained standard information, focused equally on Seeker Air Command as well as the Vosian son. Heir to a crumbling name and all that he could keep above water at such a young and inexperienced age. Soundwave, ever thorough, made sure to note anything bizarre in the young man’s past. His school records publicly wiped clean of any indiscretions - his teachers and earliest advisers paid by doting parents to give Starscream the best recommendations. One incident stood out, one that seemed to cost the family more money to erase from the public eye.

A car wreck in Starscream’s university years. Midwinter and a single casualty, another student. Megatron had chalked it up to the foolish decisions of college students and thought no more of it until Starscream worked for him. Until an unexpected snowstorm sent his up-and-coming aerospace engineer hiding in the backseat of their rented car. Hyperventilating until Megatron had to take over for the driver. The young man somehow comforted by Megatron in control rather than a stranger. Only then did Megatron take notice of how his subordinate never drove in winter, how he changed his schedule to never be out in chance of a storm - how his sick days were always taken when the worst of the weather came around.

Only by Megatron’s leniency of Starscream’s less destructive habits could he get away with it...and he continued to permit Starscream to do so under the false thought that it made HIS life less chaotic in winter. When really he knew it had only to do with a dislike of the thought he’d be forcing Starscream into panic.

Which made their current position all the more difficult to write off as happenstance.

Starscream fell asleep within the hour of them laying down after Megatron had showed no interest in any bedroom activities. He undressed, let the robed man tuck into his chest, and waited until the breathing evened out and dark lashes fluttered only in the shift of dreams and deeper sleep.

His arm numb beneath Starscream’s weight, and leg sore from five welts spotted when he changed, he was unable to do more than lay there. Listen to the snap of sleet rain over the thick windows, the distance hum of heat kicking on and the rattle of Starscream’s breathing. Uncomfortable to eventually reach for his phone, seeing that Soundwave had already contacted him to inform of their early meeting being rescheduled before Megatron had a chance to give the order.

A conference _call_ canceled, “due to weather”, he snorts a laugh and goes still as the sound causes the man to stir. Dark brow frowns but drifts back off with ease. Undisturbed by Megatron's silent observations, or the way Megatron keeps his aching arm wrapped around the other's body rather than disturb his sleep. When Megatron hired the inexperience brat - snarling twenty something year old without a clue of how to conduct himself - he swore he'd break Starscream of his spoiled nature. There was too much to gain with such a brilliant and clever man that Megatron couldn't fathom tolerating such behavior for long. It's been years since that thought first entered Megatron's mind...he still hasn't gotten around to it.   
  


He wonders if Starscream will ever realize how quickly Megatron will order the world to bend just for him. 

 


End file.
